While many fans can easily quote chapter and verse about the recent history of Manchester United, only a few old farts like myself are still around to remember the stalwarts who helped weave the rich tapestry of a club they helped develop into one of the world football’s giants. One of those men was Johnny Morris who passed away at the ripe old age of 87 earlier this week. He spent eight years at Old Trafford but like so many other greats at the time, most of those years were during the war years which robbed those players the full recognition they deserved. Ivor Ponting from The Independent paid tribute to a United great who should be remembered by those who have little or no memory of.

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Why has Scotland produced so many of the best football managers in the world? Based on exclusive interviews with the men themselves, their players or close friends and family, authors Michael Grant and Rob Robertson reveal the huge contribution that Scottish managers like Sir Alex Ferguson, Sir Matt Busby, Bill Shankly, Jock Stein, Tommy Docherty, Jim McLean, Kenny Dalglish, George Graham, Walter Smith, Gordon Strachan, Alex McLeish and David Moyes, as well as a host of others, have made to the world game.

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Sir Alex Ferguson wants veteran Ryan Giggs to become a member of the Red Knights. No, NOT the consortium of multi millionaires who are determined to get rid of the Glazer family but to join the exclusive club of Manchester United legends like Sir Matt Busby, Sir Bobby Charlton and himself who have been recognized with a knighthood by the Queen.

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It’s amazing what can be found while doing a little bit of Googling! Four Four Two magazine asked their readers to send questions they would like to ask Manchester United legend George Best four years before he passed away in November 2005. His answers were then published in the magazine and are as interesting today as they were at that time. Some readers may have come across the answers Best gives in this article before but for those who like myself had never seen this piece, these are The Thoughts of George Best.

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According to Sir Alex Ferguson, the reason that Dimitar Berbatov struggled to settle into Old Trafford in his first two seasons was purely because of the size of his club record transfer fee. “When we buy a player for a lot of money there is more focus on him” he said  ”if they have an odd bad game there is a criticism which other players may not get”. It’s a factor which was well understood by Sir Matt Busby when he agreed to pay Barnsley the odd amount of £29,999  for centre forward Tommy Taylor way back in in March 1953, a fee agreed so that Taylor would not be burdened with the label of a £30,000 player and the story goes that a tea lady was the beneficiary of the extra pound!

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It has to be as sure a bet as you’re ever likely to get, not quite impossible to lose but as near a certainty as can be. Managing the same club for 700 consecutive Premier League matches is a record that nobody will ever take from Sir Alex Ferguson. That milestone was reached at Goodison Park on Saturday but overall, the Scotsman has been in charge of Manchester United on 1336 occasions. It’s an incredible record built over 24 years at the club and nobody has any doubt that a quarter of a century will be clocked up in November next year to take him a shade past Sir Matt Busby. As Sir Alex celebrated his unique achievement, Sportsmail writers recall the moments of football genius and volcanic temper that put Fergie in a league of his own.

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